Dates for the Diary: Dublin 4, Summer 2017

Pictured: Children at Bloom. Pic by Colm Mahady / Fennells.

To celebrate the arrival of longer days and warmer weather, NewsFour has put together a selection of some of the exciting events and activities due to take place over the coming months. It’s not a comprehensive list, just a few suggestions that could help make this summer a memorable one for you and your family.

Pictured: Stella Maris rowers in action.

East Coast Rowing (2017). The Skerries Regatta will take place on June 18th, followed by the Bray Regatta on June 25th. St Michael’s Rowing Club, Dun Laoghaire, will host the first regatta of July, on the 9th.

All the action will take place at the home of the reigning East Coast Champions, Stella Maris Rowing Club, Ringsend, who host their regatta on July 16th. The club is looking for new members to join their U16s boys and an U16s girls crews – so there’s an opportunity, if you would like to be part of the action and not just a spectator.

To find out more send Emma a private message on the Stella Maris Facebook page, or head down to the clubhouse any evening. There’s always someone about at this time of the year.

St Patrick’s Rowing Club, will do the honours this year, hosting their regatta on July 30th. They are also looking for new recruits, so if green is your colour, get in touch with the club asap. August’s regattas are packed tightly together, with Greystones on the 5th, Wicklow on the 7th, and Dalkey on the 13th. So, some hard rowing for the crews there!

Finding interesting things for the kids to do once school is out is a challenge for most parents. Fear not, if you live in or around Dublin 4! Once again, some of Dublin’s most exciting summer activities for young people are on offer at the Surfdock Summer Camp, which takes place each year in Grand Canal Dockyard, Ringsend. Here, children can experience a mix of water-based and land-based activities, including windsurfing, kayaking, stand-up paddleboarding, dinghy sailing, and cable wakeboarding. There are qualified instructors on hand to teach the participants, through a series of fun-filled sessions.

Kids will be placed in groups with other children of the same age, so in addition to learning skills that will last a lifetime, they will get a chance to meet new people and make new friends – surely what the summer holidays are all about. No experience is required for any of the sports. The week-long camps start on June 6th and run throughout the summer until Aug 14th. Times are from 10am to 4.30pm from Monday to Friday, with the exception of the bank holiday weeks in June and August, when the camp runs from Tuesday to Friday. Free supervision is available from 9am and until 5pm to tie in with the working day. This does not have to be booked. All equipment and wetsuits can be rented, so children only need swimwear, an old pair of runners, a towel, warm clothing for afterwards and a big packed lunch.

Poolbeg Yacht and Boat Club (PYBC) provide a wide variety of sailing and other water sport opportunities for members throughout the year. This summer, the club will run a number of two-week summer sailing camps for kids, in partnership with Adventure Training Ireland. The sailing courses start on June 6 (Level 1). A Level 2 course will take place over the final two weeks of June for ages 12-18.

Two further sailing courses are planned for July – one for younger kids and a second for older kids – when the primary schools are on holidays.

PYBC also offer community access, with a wide range of educational and recreational programmes that extend an open invitation to everyone regardless of age, gender, race, physical ability, or the means to pay. The club’s 2017 programmes are specifically designed for youth development and people with disabilities. Members are currently working on a project to provide additional safety boats, sailing boats and equipment which will be used to support this project.

PYBC will be at the heart of Riverfest celebrations. Their annual regatta will take place simultaneously over the June Bank Holiday weekend. Festivities will start in the clubhouse on Friday, June 2, with an Old Gaffers (tall ships) Welcome Evening and run until Monday June 5. ThunderCatsUK will be based at the club and when they’re not thrilling the crowds with their spectacular boatmanship they will be able to enjoy the club’s Caribbean-themed festivities – on an actual beach! Over the course of the weekend, the PYBC marina will be the start and finish point for some very exciting racing, which will take place on the river and in Dublin Bay. So, for the best vantage point to see all the Riverfest action, in and around PYBC is the place to be.

The organisers of D4Drama, a new amateur drama group based in Ringsend, are looking for help with the general running of the group. If you have interested in or have experience with costume design, dress making/tailoring, production, art, set design, carpentry, fundraising (grant applications etc), event planning or even acting (more males urgently needed for this summer’s performances) please email your details to aoreardon@msn.com or call/text Anthony on 0857378998. D4Drama is a voluntary group who aim to involve the community in performances. No acting experience necessary.

On Saturday June 10, all are welcome at the Spellman Family Fun Day which will take place at Irishtown Stadium from 1-4pm, with a BBQ, Bouncy Castle, Facepainting, Magic and Balloon Modeling with Bash the Clown and DJ Pearce Rooney.

Street Feast, in association with Dublin City Council, is happening on Sunday, June 11th. Communities are invited to come together at around 12.00 noon to share food and conversation with their neighbours as a simple and fun way of reconnecting and building social solidarity and resilience. It’s also a great way to promote your local village or area cleaning initiative, encouraging volunteers to keep our streets and green spaces clean, prevent dog fouling and encourage people to brighten up the neighbourhood with flowers and plants. So bring out your tables and chairs and get in the party zone with people you might otherwise never get to meet. You can make use of the resources in the Street Feast Packs which are available from Dublin City Council (South East Area) for those who register online at www.streetfeast.ie

The RICC Summer Project will run two camps this year, offering all the children’s favourites and some exciting new activities. Camp 1 will take place from July 18-28 and Camp 2 will be held from August 8-17. Both camps will meet on July 28. Registration is on Wednesday, June 7, from 9am-5pm. The deposit is €10. Prices and schedule to be confirmed. For more information call the centre at 01 6604798.

SPORTSCO Multi Activity Summer Camps start on a variety of dates during July and August. The camps are run by excellent Garda-vetted leaders and offer a wide range of activities, including swimming, pool games, basketball, soccer, tennis, arts and crafts, unihoc, aerobics and dance, rounders and table quizzes to name just a few. All activities are organised in the excellent facilities of SPORTSCO in Dublin 4, which include a 25-metre swimming pool, indoor sports hall, five-a-side soccer pitches and tennis courts. Pre-booking is essential. If you want to know more go to: http://sportsco.ie/index.php/facilities/kids-camp/

A fantastic ‘Summer Sizzle’ will take place in aid of Cancer Research at Railway Union Sports Club, Sandymount, on Saturday June 10th from 4pm until late. Families are welcome and great weather is guaranteed! The Sizzle will comprise four Big BBQ stations serving Steaks, Hog Roast, Lamb and other meat dishes with complimentary salads all prepared under the expert eye of top chef Florin Vasilache, of the renowned Asador Restaurant, and his team of chefs. There will be music and dancing and a Prosecco ‘Welcome Reception’ hosted by O’Briens Off Licence in Sandymount, which will get patrons in the funzone for a full evening of events.

Irish Rugby Internationals Eoin Reddan and Victor Costello will be in attendance to give their opinions on the televised game between Ireland and the USA which will take place in New Jersey that evening at 9pm Irish time. A large attendance is expected to support this very worthy cause of Cancer Research in St Vincent’s (www.ccrt.ie), St James’s and Tallaght Hospitals. Tickets cost €30 each for adults and €10 for kids and are now available from Michael Byrne Craft Butchers, 92 Sandymount Road.

For literature lovers, an event to honour the birthday of one of Sandymount’s most illustrious sons, W.B. Yeats, will take place on Sandymount Green, on June 13th. This year’s Yeats Day celebrations will start at 10.30am, with readings from the poet’s work, and music to celebrate his life.

On June 16th, James Joyce will once again be celebrated with a Bloomsday Breakfast at the Iris Charles Centre, Newbridge Avenue, Sandymount. Enjoy a genuine Joycean Full Irish Breakfast – kidneys and all – and be entertained with music, readings and recitals from Ulysses, with Rodney Devitt, Claire McElvaney, Glynis Casson, Eleanor Devitt and other Joyceans. Later, at 11am, at Sandymount Green, period dress and traditional celebrations of Leopold and his adventures with excerpts from Joyce’s works and readings from Anthony J. Jordan’s new work, Joyce Unplugged.

Pictured: CoderDojo’s coolest projects.

On Saturday June 17th, the 6th Annual CoderDojo Coolest Projects Showcase (2017) will take place in the RDS, Dublin. It promises to be cooler than ever, with over 15,000 people expected to attend. You never know, you may already have the future Bill Gates or Mark Zuckerberg living under your roof, so take the kids along to this for some digital inspiration. To book tickets for the event go to http://tickets.coolestprojects.org/

Finally, on July 15, the Sandymount Tidy Towns Community Association (STTCA) will hold a Summer BBQ at the Pembroke Cricket Club, Sandymount, starting at 7.30pm. Tickets for the event will go on sale soon.